Of Different Origins
by Skiewrites 2.0
Summary: Once upon a time, a lonely black-haired boy met a hungry green-haired girl. The little boy was surprised when he found the little girl couldn't read, and the little girl was astonished when she found out the little boy couldn't fight. Time passes, and children find that there's so much wrong with the world, and it begs to wonder if there is such a thing as a 'happily ever after?
1. ARC 1 - Seasons - Spring Part One

_Once upon a time, a lonely black-haired boy met a hungry green-haired girl. The little boy was quite surprised when he found that the little girl couldn't read, and the little girl was equally astonished when she found out that the little boy couldn't fight. Time passes, and ten years down the line, the now not so little children find that there is still so much wrong with the world, and it begs to wonder if there is such a thing as a 'happily ever after'?_

A small boy was alone, with his book, in a park that he found on the outskirts of the 20th Ward. It hadn't been used in a while, if the rust on the swings were any indication. But that was okay. If the park hadn't been used, then it meant that people didn't come here often and the black-haired boy liked it when he wasn't around people all the time. No people meant no talking, which meant more time for reading, and the little black-haired boy liked to read, because it meant that he didn't have to think about real life, or his life, at all, which was a nice break.

Another reason why he liked that no people where here was due to the fact that it meant less questions asked about himself and why he wasn't at home, because it wasn't due to the fact that he was avoiding his mother, and how he knew how to read such complicated kanji at his young age. But being alone meant feeling lonely, and feeling lonely was a horrible feeling to feel when you knew that there wasn't anyone to fill that hole that loneliness made, something that kept growing and growing and growing until you wanted to cry about it to someone but you can't because you're lonely and to want someone meant that you were being selfish for you want to spend their free time with you when they could be doing something way more important than listening to you crying, and being selfish meant that mother-

Best get back to reading.

The small child tried his best to keep reading, at least, because it was the time when the sun wasn't fully down but the street lights weren't up which meant that it was very hard to see the characters on this page which meant that he would have to go home soon, but mother was there and he didn't really want to see mother at that moment in-

What was that? The youth turned his head towards the source of the noise, in this case, a broken twig. Behind him, hiding behind the metal sheet of the slide was a little green-haired girl, who looked only slightly older then himself. Now, he had seen many different types of hair colour on many different types of people, due to the fact that he was born and raised in Tokyo, but never before had he seen green hair on a girl who couldn't be more than two years older than him, making this a first.

"BAKA!'' The black-haired child's eyes widen at the remark made by the ever so slightly older female, but what surprised him the most was that one of her eyes were completely black except for the iris, which was a deep red. Now the boy was far from stupid, for he had read somewhere that only ghouls had that sort of eyes, but it was strange that the girl in front of him only had one, for he had read that ghouls were supposed to have two.

"You were supposed to stay there so I could kill you so I could eat you!" The young boy frowned. He didn't like the idea of being eaten, the main reason for that was due to the fact that being eaten was a normal and boring death, there wasn't anything cool or original about being eaten by a ghoul, for it was a common death these days. Being eaten would also mean that he would be leaving his best friend by himself, and his friend always said that rabbits died of loneliness.

This confused the black-haired child, for he was pretty sure that his friend was defiantly not a rabbit, but he just went with it. Leaving his friend meant that his friend would die too, of sadness because he wasn't really a rabbit. He wasn't sure what his mother would feel, because dying by a ghoul meant that he wasn't being selfish by living when he could help someone else live when he died.

However, the boy thought you could be selfish when it came to die, even if it was just a little. If it was too much, then his mother would notice, and she would happily sort it out for him.

"I don't want to be eaten, for that's a very boring way to die. Why don't you find someone else who wouldn't mind dying?" He replied to the small green-haired girl, returning to his book. A nearby street lamp had turned on, and the sun was almost down, making it easier to see what the author wrote.

Unknown to the younger child, for he had now turned his back to the slide, the small female ghoul frowned. She had never been to 20th ward, for she usually stayed in the underground 24th ward that most humans, don't know about. When someone is about to be eaten, they screamed and cried and fought and tried to get away. But this human was different. He didn't scream or cry or fight or try to run. He just sat there, said he didn't want to be eaten and carried on looking at the object in front of him. Were all humans in this area like this? She didn't think so, but now she couldn't be too sure. This was the first time being above ground on her own, hunting on her own, and it was also the first time her prey had even said something that wasn't screaming or cried with tears that were filled of pain, fear and regret. What did the boy mean when he said that being eaten was a boring was to die?

"What?"

The girl blinked, taken out of her thoughts. Did she say something? The boy had turned around again, the object on his lap disregarded by him, looking straight at her. It was weird, she decided, for in her whole life, she didn't think anyone had looked her in the eyes when they saw that one of them was different. He was a strange human, she decided, just as she was a strange ghoul.

"Well, you said that being eaten was a very boring way to die. What do you mean by that?" The female asked, a puzzled expression etched onto her face. The boy didn't know what to say to that. It sounds weird now that someone else had pointed that out. But he might as well explain it, for it might, but very unlikely, stop the ghoul from eating him. He turned the swing around, forgetting about the book on his lap, letting it slide to the ground.

"Well, lots of people get eaten by ghouls and if you were to eat me then I would just be another victim, joining the thousands upon thousands that have already been eaten by ghouls. However, if I died, for example, saving someone from a burning building, I would be dying in an interesting way because not many people die like that so some people would remember me." The boy explained. The girl blinked at him, her eyes were now both the same colour. The boy thought that maybe that was a good thing, but it truly showed how many ghouls there where in the everyday life that humans lived. It sounds like a good horror book that someone should write.

"You're weird." The girl muttered under her breath. Her eyes glanced over at the object that was once on the boys lap, but now it was on the ground. It was a plain black cover, with some strange white symbols on the front as if someone had drew onto it. Being the curious ghoul that she was, she decided to ask about it. "What's that?" she questioned, pointing to it and slowly coming out from behind the slide. The boy looked at the fallen book, and picked it up, dusting off the dirt from the cover. He looked towards the green-haired girl, confused.

"You've never seen a book before?" he replied as he watch the girl slowly come towards him, stopping about a metre in front of him. She shook her head, and looked closer at the book. In the inside where lots of the strange drawings again, but instead of white on black, it was black on white.

"Well," the little boy explained, "a book is filled with written words that tell a story. Sometimes the story is true and sometimes the story isn't." The young girl's eyes widened at the concept, then frowned.

"You have to read?" she asked. The boy nodded, then called her over to have a closer look at the story. The girl quickly went to his side and looked over his shoulder to see where he was pointing, his finger just underneath the drawing '不幸'.

"You see, when these two kanji, that's the name of these characters, are put together, it could mean a whole variety of things. It ranges from unhappiness and sadness to misfortune, death and grief to accident and depression, so it really depends on the context that the kanji is used in. However, when the kanji is separate, the first kanji means 'not' and the second means fortune or luck." There was a moment of silence when the female ghoul took in when the human had just said. Then she broke the silence.

"Teach me." The boy looked up at the girl in confusion, so the green-haired ghoul elaborated. "I want you to teach me how to read. In return I promise not to eat you, ever, and maybe I can teach you something too," she paused for a moment, "but I will eat you if you report me to the CCG." The black-haired male looked thoughtful for a moment, then agreed with her deal. It would be an excuse for not being at home, but he was really being selfish by not wanting to be lonely anymore, wasn't he? In contrast, if he said that he was coming here to teach her how to read, it wasn't really being selfish, was it?

"We can meet here every Saturday if you want?" he asked, and the girl quickly agreed. The boy looked around, noticing the sun had fully set and it was time to go home, for there wasn't any need to worry his mother any more than she already did.

"I've got to go home now," he said, looking at the girl before realising something. "Hang on, before I go, what's your name? Mine's Kaneki, Kaneki Ken."

"You can call me Eto."


	2. ARC 1 - Seasons - Spring Part Two

Is there such thing as 'happily ever after'?

Does the concept of happiness at the rainbow exist in real life, or was that only in the story books that the black-haired child introduced to the green-haired girl?

This is an important question for the green-haired girl and the black-haired boy. So many people are scared of the future and what it will hold for them. Will they be happy, or sad? Will they have everything they need, or nothing at all? People rarely know the answer to the important life questions that they ask themselves, and that scares them more than mysterious one-eyed ghouls and the horrors that hide in the kitchen cupboards. It was much more unpredictable than what the questions on the tests are and what is for dinner that night.

There is no correct answer for it.

Children hardly think about these questions anyway. They have no need to think about their future other than what is going to happen the next day and the birthday party happening next week. They have no need to fill with worry about money or deadlines or providing for others.

And so, the two children, one with black hair and the other with green, visited each other each Saturday, eager to play and learn about each other, curiosity filling their entire being that lasts longer than the visit. They smile when the boy points a character out to the girl and explains what it is, and they laugh when the girl pushes the boy over in the sand pit while playing tag.

They're not happy, though, not really.

The smiles that paint their faces make their fear of what will happen when they separate and the fear they hold for the future. It hides their concerns for important people and helps them pretend nothing is wrong with the world. Their clothes hid their scars and their bruises, stopping people from seeing how the world has wronged them. They're scared, fearing what will happen next, but by coming to the park with the other made them fill with joy and childish.

However, there is only so far they could pretend that happily ever after existed, and for them, there was no such thing.

* * *

The black haired human soon came to enjoy Saturdays.

Before he had met his new friend, he would spend his Saturdays alone in the house for his mother had work and his best friend from school visited his family almost every week. But now he had something to do other than idly sit there for hours on end because his mother would never come home but he would hate it when she was home. So it was good for the 8 year old to be out of the house.

He would spend almost all of the daylight hours at the abandoned park with the one eyed ghoul. He would bring books and paper and pens and she would bring herself and they would spend most of the time learning to read and write. There wasn't any stopping for snack breaks, mainly because the green haired female didn't need to eat, due to her being a ghoul and the small male child didn't tell her that he need to eat, and he thought it would be selfish of him to waste time with him eating when he could be helping the girl learn how to tell the difference between the kanji so she could be on par with him and then they could read the same books and discuss their favourite parts. They also talked about many things, like what school was like for the human and what the 24th Ward, which was completely dominated by ghouls, was like for the ghoul. He never felt out of place when he went to the park with his new friend, and never did he want to miss a minute with the green-haired half ghoul.

It had only been a month since he had meet the girl, but far too quickly she was becoming the one of the most important things in his life.

It was Friday night, and Kaneki was preparing for the next day. His backpack held the book that he was using as a guide to help his friend learn, a notebook and pen so he could teach her to write and a Frisbee, because his new friend had never heard of the thing and really wanted to know what one was and how to play.

"Ken, what are you doing?" The boy turned around to see the speaker, his mother. She had short brown hair that only just covered her ears, a pale white face that looked as if it hadn't seen the sun in weeks, wore round glasses, indicating that she had just been working and a blank expression that showed no emotion. It wasn't often that the boy's mother checked up on him, for she was too busy to spend time with him.

"Are you… are you leaving?" she asked, looking at his bag. The boy's eyes widened in shock, he had never thought to leave his mother!

"N-n-no." he stuttered out, stepping away from his mother. She didn't seem to believe him, taking long strides towards him, looking down on her son.

"You're going to leave me aren't you? Just like your father did, like father, like son." The mother whispered accusingly, snatching his bag off him and throwing the objects out onto his floor, ignoring the way that the book skidded and ripped and the look of horror on her only child's face. The blacked haired child grabbed her arm and tried to tear it away from the bag, only for her to drop the said item and turn her attention onto him.

Smack.

The child fell to the floor from the impact of his mother's hand slapping him around the face, and angry red mark indicating on the left side of the face showed where the hand had impacted. He had no time to register the pain, for his mother had her iron grip on the black-haired child and shake him and shouting questions at him, however, he could not hear nor answer in his state. After what seemed to be forever, she stopped and dropped him to the floor, his body crumbling into a pile on the carpet.

"You'll never leave me will you, Ken?" she asked quietly, looking ahead and showed no signs of the anger she previously had.

"No, mother." The boy muttered from his spot on the ground, not moving in fear and pain. His mother accepted his answer and moved out of his room and into the kitchen and started to cook, beef burgers, her child's favourite dish. The boy slowly moved out of his foetus position and slowly moved into the bathroom. His face had begun to swell slightly, and there was a nasty colouring on his arm that made him happy that school was out for a few days. He went back into his room, and realised that some of the pages in his book were ripped. No matter, there was tape in his mother's study that he could borrow later, when she was asleep. It wouldn't be selfish, for his green haired friend was reading the book, and it would be selfish of him not to fix it because he could be holding the ending in her face, but not giving it to her, and that would be an awful thing for him to do to his new friend. So he slowly began to repack his bag as quietly as he could, careful to not to make a noise that would alert his mother of his packing. He then spend five minutes laying on his arm trying to get the pen from underneath the chest of draws, a rickety old set that his mother got from a car boot sale that threatened to collapse at any moments.

He had just got the pen out when there was a call from his mother for his supper, and he quickly went into the kitchen to avoid another episode.

* * *

The green haired girl was very excited to see her friend today, due to the bad week she just had, for the violence of her home ward was spilling out into places like the 4th, 11th and the 13th ward. The number of ghoul investigators had increased in each ward, but not in the 20th, due to the new coffee shop that had just opened. She had no chance to think on the subject any longer, for her black haired friend had just arrived, but he didn't seem as happy to see her.

"Hello Kaneki!" she said with a smile on her face. He didn't smile back, but now that he was closer, the half ghoul noticed the bruising on the side of his face and on the upper arm, or at least the part that his t-shirt didn't cover. Now she wasn't happy either, in fact, she felt murderous. Who dared to lay a hand on her human? Who thought that they had the right to treat them like this and get away from it? Well, they wouldn't, for she was going to eat them even if they were a ghoul and-

"Eto? Are you okay?" the girl, who was hearing a small and dirty red dress blinked at the boy, then sighed. The boy in front of the half ghoul, human or not, was weak and stupid. He would never survive in the ghoul world, and wouldn't even last two minutes in her home ward, not counting the fact that he was a human and would be eaten anyway.

"Am I okay?" she said slowly, watching the black haired human in front of her. "I think we should be asking if you're okay, and before you say that you are, you have a huge bruise on your face." The boy in front of her looked down ashamed. She sighed again.

"Do you want to tell me who did this to you?" He looked up and stared at her.

"No, because you'll kill them and that isn't really accepted in the human world and it's-" the boy began to ramble, beginning to talk at a faster pace and panicked, so the older girl cut him off.

"Fine, I won't hurt them." She muttered loud enough for her human friend to hear but quiet enough to show her annoyance over the decision. "But you have to tell me who did it." The black haired boy looked undeceive over what she had said but quickly agreed with what she said, scratching his chin while telling her about bullies at his school, while telling her what a bully is. The female half ghoul sat there, thoughtful of the situation. She couldn't hurt the bullies, because her human friend would be sad, so what could she do instead? But she quickly came up with a solution to the problem:

"I'll teach you how to fight them." She said proudly. The boy had his eyes open wide with the idea.

"Fight?! But that would be hurting people and you shouldn't hurt people-"

"Why?"

"Because, you shouldn't be the person hurting others, but be the person getting hurt." The half ghoul looked at her friend with a blank expression.

"I'm still teaching you how to fight."


	3. ARC 1 - Seasons - Summer Part One

What would time be without the humans' involvement?

Nothing, for the thing is, time means nothing to any other living organism on the planet. They don't need to know how many hours had passed since the middle of the night to know it was time to eat. They knew when they have to eat because their body tells them, not some ransom concept that doesn't exists. Any other creature lives by the day, for that have no reason to plan ahead, except maybe for the weather and the winter. They lived by a concept that is the strongest get to eat and the weakest get eaten. They didn't care when the days that they lived turned into weeks, months and years. All they cared about was surviving another day in the harsh world that was only normal for them.

That's why ghouls were strange.

That too think in the way that the weakest are trodden on by the strongest, but they too plan and adapt with the humans. They too believed in the concept of time and that everything had a before and an after. They were animalistic, hunting for the very survival of their own lives, but they cared on how the world worked and they thought with their mind and fought with their emotions like humans did. They acted like a human, with instincts of an animal.

What does that make a half ghoul, living but not belonging in either world?

Time had flown for the two friends, and they were very much aware of that. The past was now a blur, mixed with important information about each of their pasts that define themselves.

It wasn't long before the youngest hit 10 years of age, an important mark in a child's life. However, only two people noticed it, and his mother want one of them.

She died a month later.

The black-haired boy never told his elder friend exactly how they died, but she didn't not care to ask. She was used to death, and was confused by the emotional attachment. She still comforted him though, for that's what her friend needed and as she was still stronger than him, though it was to be expected despite the improvement in his physical level in the passing moths that quickly turned to years, and as she was stronger than her little human, then she must protect him.

She wondered when she became so attached to the young boy that she called her only friend.

Her reading and writing skills had improved too, but at a much fast rate that the younger's skills in fighting. She had taken into practicing in her own time, writing short stories that she came up with into a small but empty notebook she found about nine months after her friend's mother's death. In there she decided the lives of real ghouls that she knew or heard about in the 24th ward as horror stories, for that what ghouls were to humans.

The smaller boy, who, all this time was growing and was slowly, but surely, getting closer and closer to her height, was a weird human though. He still didn't care for what happened to get him killed, not really. Nowadays she could threaten him with murder but all he did in retaliation was shrug his shoulders and get back to his book. She didn't understand his disregard for life. It confused her. Did he have no plans further than coming here every weekend?

They continued with their routine of coming here anyways, despite any, what should she call this emotion that she had yet to feel? Confusion? Concern? Anyhow, things were normal for them, as they slowly let loose to the other how their world worked and why somethings that were acceptable in one were not in the other, though they both had a hard time explaining it when the 'whys' came. But not only did they teach the other of how their world worked, but they were slowly realising that the world was wrong for the both of them and that something needed to change soon, otherwise, it would stick to the same sad world that it was now.

Not that they didn't have some good times together, for they did. Due to the improvement of the girls writing, the boy gifted her a note book that she could write her own stories, something she seemed eager to do. She was writing her first one now, telling the younger boy that it would be a horror, like the many books that the two children would read together. She was very excited to see other people, other humans, read something that a ghoul with no formal education wrote. The small black haired boy didn't tell her how hard it is to get a book published these days, but didn't say anything due to the genuine smile that came onto her face, no matter how little it appeared. When they first met, there was little humour from the girl. However, as the weeks turned to months which turned into years, the green haired child laughed about things that maybe the little boy found a bit grotesque, but it made her happy, and so he was happy.

What surprised him was when he got a gift from the green haired ghoul. Abet, it was some knifes, ones that can harm ghouls, but the gesture was nice and it was the first proper gift that was given to him, even if she scavenged them off some dead investigator that she then went on to eat (it wasn't really nice thinking of it like that to the human liked to keep it out of his mind as much as he could). In the last few years his fighting skills had immensely improved, in spite of his original protests, and adding the knifes to it meant that he and this female friend could practice together, slowly putting use her kagune so her friend could get better at fighting ghouls. He was getting better, his reaction time was getting faster and faster, not that he noticed in the first place but his friend took note of it. The small human didn't know why he was getting this sort of training, it wasn't like he was going to become an investigator himself or something, but his green haired friend said that this sort of protection would be good if he wanted to visit other wards that he wasn't familiar with or that were dangerous.

She never did find out who really bruised him.

One Saturday, things began to change for the both of them.

In the girl's hands was a book, some sort of diary that the boy doubted was his friends, for she wasn't really the type. She had a puzzled look on her face and curiosity and sadness in her eyes, something that scared the human boy. She looked up and smiled, some of his fear disappearing. So, she wasn't going to kill anyone, at least with him present. However, he still would be going where she wanted to go, for he was her friend, in spite of the differences the two held.

"Hey, Ken, would you help me find my father?" She asked, fingering the delicate pages that the diary held. Family was normally a tough subject, due to the fact that the half ghoul never really knew who gave birth to her and that the human's parents were both dead, so there wasn't really a lot to talk about. However, if his friend thought that she knew where her father was, or that he was even alive, then he was going to help her.

"Do you have any ideas where he is?" he asked the half-ghoul. She now had a determined and cocky look on her face, the same face that he saw when he taught her to read, and when she taught him a new attack with his knifes.

"Who do you take me as?" She asked him rhetorically.

"Of course I know where to look for him, and I'm very certain that he's in this ward! You do have your knifes on you, right, because I'm very certain that my father is a ghoul and works with other ghouls, so we don't know what might happen." The boy nodded his head in agreement. He didn't think that he has met any other ghoul before, other than his green haired friend, due to the fact that he was still living and breathing.

"Okay, where do we start?"

The human boy was so glad that he brought some money with him, because he didn't understand how quickly the green haired girl could drink coffee, despite how hot it is. He himself had ordered a latte, something that his green haired friend hand never heard of, and a slice of carrot cake.

"So, Eto, you're telling me that you've never drank coffee before?" He asked while he looked around. The coffee house that he was in wasn't what he expected ghouls to work at, due to the fact that ghouls couldn't really eat normal food, but here they were, selling baked goods with, what he had to say was brilliant coffee, and it seemed that Eto really enjoyed it black, no sugar or milk, just crushed coffee beans with hot water. He stored that away in his memory. His friend wasn't the most normal of ghouls but it seems that all ghouls could enjoy good brew of black coffee, if the couple near the windows, who both had the same as the girl in front of him and nothing to eat was any indication. The ghoul in front of him shook her head, not that he was surprised due to her reaction the beverage. She put her almost empty cup down.

"Okay, so I'm pretty sure that all the workers and some of the customers here are ghouls. This means that this is absolutely the place." She looked across to her black-haired friend.

"They're also responsible for making this ward so peaceful, they make sure that the other ghouls get food if they can't kill and they make sure that territories battles are short and quick. They also separate other unclaimed land for the weaker ghouls." She explained while the human across from her. He nodded, showing his understanding. She then pointed to two of the staff.

"Those two, the man and the woman, they're in charge of the two main gangs that are based in 20th ward." She added. She looked at the television, the channel being the news. At the bottom right hand corner was the time, not that the female ghoul could read it. She looked back down at the diary she brought with her. She had left it out on the table, just in case her father came out, because she knew that he was here, the rumours said so.

"Would you like a refill?" The female ghoul looked up to see an older man, one that hadn't been serving them earlier. His hair was greying and his posture screamed to her that this person was old and weak, however, he smelled like everyone else who was working here, meaning he was everything but that. She looked back at her friend, who nodded his head slightly. What was she supposed to say? Do you say yes please, or was there a different way to say it and were you supposed to complement them for the coffee because if you were, what do you say for that? The man didn't even serve them earlier, so what happens if she only said yes and she got a latte instead and what if-

Her human friend kicked her in the shin.

"Yes please" Her friend responded for her smiling towards the older man.

"And done mind her, she's still a learner with human etiquettes." The man nodded his head and took both the cups away. After watching the man go back towards the bar, she turned towards the friend.

"Why did you do that for?" Her friend then only went on the laugh at her.

"It's not funny!"

"Is to, and it's not like you really know any human etiquettes in the first place. The most human thing you know how do is read, and you don't know every single kanji there is in the world, you probably only know about 1000, maybe less. There's a lot you don't know about humans and the way they live their everyday life." He said, taking a bite out of his cake, looking thoughtful.

"To be honest," he muttered, "we're better of going places so you can fit in and not panic like you just did there." The green haired girl gritted her teeth.

"I did not panic!" She muttered angrily. However, the look on the black-haired child's didn't seem to agree.

"Here you go." A cup of steaming coffee was placed in front of her. She looked up to see the same man from before. His eyes seemed to twinkle and he smiled.

"I hope you learn a lot from you're friend here." But before he turned away his eye caught the diary. "Is that yours?" he asked. The green haired half ghoul looked back the diary, with the aging pages and almost breaking the seams of the journal.

"No, it was my mothers." She said with a smile. The man didn't smile back.

"Of course, it is." He muttered and went back to the bar.

"That's him." She muttered. The black-haired boy raised his eyebrow, and looked back at the man at the bar. He was talking to someone else, another man, probably another ghoul, with longish white hair.

"I think you might be right."


	4. ARC 1 - Seasons - Summer Part Two

Why did people need to socialise?

It's a curious question that our protagonists don't really think about. They just do it anyway, even if they like to be on their own more that hang out with friends. But, the question is still there, it still hangs in the air but is mostly left unanswered.

Humans, and ghouls, are pack animals. They live for another and not to be on their own. If they can't find a pack, then they make their own with other like-minded people. Humans and ghouls aren't solitary creatures, they can't function properly on their own, for other people give them a purpose. Humans have developed so much to help them with this, creating inventions, like the internet, to help connect people with each other. They've also created organisations to help people with similar ideas, thoughts and views in life achieve what they want from life. Ghouls are different when it comes to what the humans have made, some pretend to be them, copying them and what they do in life. Some, however, do not agree with this and create their organisations for ghouls that have the same thoughts as they do when it came to humans. They live underneath the cities of the world and in the alleyways and the shadows, ready to pounce on its prey.

But where do the half-ghouls, something that people have yet to believe exist, go? Do they join the humans, where they are called monsters, or do they join the ghouls, who look down on them for their heritage?

* * *

Jump. Dodge. Duck. Look for an opening. Dodge again. Jump. Take that opening. Jab and swipe. Missed. Roll. Look for a new opening. Duck. Run. Jump. Take this opening. Hit, and it wasn't on his opponent.

"Well done Kaneki, you lasted longer than before." The said child was now laying on the ground, panting. It was another Saturday, another day to see his friend, another day to learn and another day to get bruises. He looked up towards the sky, a bright blue that almost hurt the eyes and light fluffy clouds. Peaceful and kin, something that doesn't belong in this world.

"I hate to tell you this Eto but that wasn't too long." The black haired boy retorted back, not needed to look at his green friend to know that she was shaking her head.

"And I'm going to keep telling you this, while I'm not the most powerful ghoul according to the CCG, but I know that I'm above an A rating, so the fact that you can fight me for about 3 minutes at your age and lack of CCG training really shows how much you've improved." She replied, sitting on the floor and playing with her new dress. It was a plain red, going down to her knees and a low cut revealing her developing breasts and showing off her back. One of her eyes were black, like the day that they met, but it slowly faded away to her original grey colour. "You could take down any ghoul that was B rated or below, maybe even a rank A if you surprise them or catch them off guard."

She sat down next to her human friend, the nearby trees started to wave along with the small rustle of leaves as they blocked the sunlight. It was summer and the sun was shining onto everything that it could get its hands on. It looked so happy, like something from a story that had a happy ending. Smiling, the green haired ghoul picked up her notebook, now getting older and looking more like her mother's diary, and pen and started to write a bit more, or at least, tried to. The story right now was taking an interesting turn, but right now she had his a bit of writers block. She had no idea of where to bring the story, and her human friend was no help.

After 10 minutes of doing nothing, the elder female sighed and closed her book, laying down on the ground and joining her black haired friend.

"How's your story coming along?" He asked, not looking at her. His face wasn't happy, but, was content the right word? In her eyes, no one really feels any happiness, and if they do, then they're living in an illusion. She sighed and looked up at the sky. Nothing was in the way from seeing the blue sky and the sun except maybe a cloud or two.

"It's not going anywhere at the moment." She replied in one word. Her friend nodded, knowing from the way that her pen didn't move across the page. He turned to go onto his stomach and face his friend. Her face looked dreamy as if she was thinking deep about something. She had been like this since she had found her father, or maybe it was the diary, the black haired child wasn't sure. Something about her had change, but maybe that was just him noticing that they were growing up and that they weren't innocent children learning to read.

Things were changing in the world, but the black-haired child felt like he was being left behind.

* * *

The black haired child was on his way home, taking a shortcut through an alleyway, when he first noticed the investigators.

They were non-script of nature, wearing long trench coats and holding the all too noticeable briefcase that served as a weapon. To any normal human, they would simply blend into the background and be ignored, but to a ghoul, it was a signal to run and hide underneath a rock for the next few days. The human grabbed hold of the knives in his pocket, put his hood up and head down. Luckily for him it was relatively cold for a summer's night so he didn't look to suspicious wearing a jumper. He was about to go on his way when he heard one of them talking.

"What do you mean you lost the runts?" The boy stopped and crouched into the shadows. They were looking for ghouls, children ghouls. Better not let them see him then, because the knives might make them think something else.

"It's not my fault! They're definitely ukakus with the speed they were running, which means they're close, so let's keep looking." They then wandered off, leaving the alleyway and talking about their plans for after work.

"You think they're gone yet?" The black-haired child turned around to look deeper into the alleyway. It was hard to make out but there was two children crouching behind some bins. It was hard to make out, but he was pretty sure that they were just younger than him, with dark hair in bobs.

"Shut up Ayato! They might not be gone yet!" The other one said to who he presumed was Ayato. He heard some footsteps from where the investigators when to, making the black haired boy do something very rash. He ran across the alleyway, grabbing the two children and taking them deeper into the passage, making his footsteps as quiet as possible to make up for the stumbling the other two was making. They came across another bin, of which the human shoved them behind, quickly ducking behind himself before the investigators saw.

"Are you sure that you heard them? There's no one here!" One of the two investigators remarked. The two children looked hat the black haired boy, but it was hard to tell what emotion they were portraying in the darkness.

"I'm very certain, and this was, they would have to go past us to get out of here." The other investigators voice echoed between the closely build walls, and the two ghouls next to the black haired human seemed to shake in fear. The human shook his head and began to think. Now, his green haired friend only taught him to fight against ghoul, thinking that he would have no need to fight those of his kind. After making sure his hoodie would stay up when making sudden moves, he made his move.

He picked up a handful of small stones, and lobbed them down the alleyway. With their backs turned towards them, the black haired child silently crept up towards them and attacked.

He kicked one of them in the back, making them hit their head on the pavement as they fell, causing them to become unconscious. The second one turned to face the hooded human, reading his weapon, which turned out to be two short whips.

Jump. Dodge. Duck. Look for an opening. Dodge again. Jump. Don't let them hit you, you won't heal as fast as a ghoul and they'll find out you're human. Jab and swipe, just like his green haired friend had taught him. He didn't dare look back towards the two children, least the investigator finds out about them. He took some hits, one ripping his jumper and another just above his eye. Throughout most of the fight, the human child stayed in the defensive, like he always does when he fought with his friend, but, with some luck, he was able to get one of the whips stuck around a metal pipe, giving him the opportunity to cut it clean with one of his knives. The investigator wasn't too happy about that, and started to make comments about how cocky the 'ghoul' was for using investigators weapons and not even using his own. But because of his anger, he was leaving more openings to be scratched by the boy's knifes until the black haired human was able to use the handle of the knives to hit the investigator in the head, knocking him unconscious.

"That was awesome!" The human turned around to look at the younger ghouls. Both was now out from the hiding place and held eyes full of wonder towards him. Now that he could get a closer look at them in the light, he saw that the female was obviously older than the other and had indigo hair while the younger, the one probably named Ayato, had blue.

"Why did you do that? You're human, yet you're fighting against your own kind and help us instead. Why?" The black haired human took down his hood, revealing his face to the younger children. He sighed and picked up the whip that wasn't broken, rolling it up and putting it into his hoddie pocket, leaving the one that he sliced in two for the investigator to find.

"I've got a friend, one that I've had for a good few years. She's also a ghoul, and she's the one who taught me to fight." He answered. "Do you two know where you're going to go?" The two ghouls looked at each other, having a silent conversation until the elder one answered.

"Papa said to go to a café, or something. He said that all of the workers are ghouls but he never told us where it was except that it was in this ward." The human nodded. They were talking about Anteku. The green haired half ghoul had said that she didn't want him going there without her, but the black haired child thought that getting these two there would be more important than waiting for his friend to take him there.

"I know where it is, do you want me to take you guys there?" he asked. The two ghouls seemed reluctant at first, but quickly came around and let him lead the way.

It was very dark now, and the black haired boy was glad that he left his window open back at home for instances like these, knowing that his aunt would never open the door to him at this time of night, saying that he should have come in earlier. 20th wards wasn't too busy that night, for it was a work day tomorrow so that meant that getting a good night sleep was important if you wanted to do a lot of work the next day. The two children following him kept very close to his side, making it look like to any passer-by that they were siblings that were on their way home.

"Why aren't we staying away from other people?" The indigo haired child asked. The black haired boy smiled at her, and watched as the younger male looked around with wonder and awe.

"A few reasons. One, it looks suspicious if we were to take backstreets making people more likely to report us. Two, while this is a passive ward, there is still hunting ground to be claimed and there is some tension between some of the ghouls right now, which means that they're more likely to attack any passer-byers." He replied to the female ghoul. Up ahead Anteku, and it seems that there was still people inside.

He stopped across the street, but he pointed it out for the other children.

"You not coming with us?" The black-haired child shook his head, smiling bitterly.

"It wouldn't be good for me to become too involved." He muttered sadly. The younger ghouls looked at each other in confusion, but let it slide. They already knew that humans were weird. Carefully, the children crossed the street and knocked on the back door of the café, their call quickly answered by a white-haired employer.

The black-haired human walked down the street, wondering where the nearest sink was where he could clean his face and knifes. As he walked past a bin, he wiped his face to clear the blood from the cut on his face with his ripped jumper, then chucked the now bloody rags into the trash, knowing it was far enough from the ally for it not to be found by the Doves.

Summer would be over soon, but the black-haired child felt as if there was going to be a bigger change than the transition of seasons.

* * *

 **A.N. This is actually more popular than I thought it would be. Sorry for not updating sooner, but you can expect a new chapter before New Year. Happy Holidays!**


	5. ARC 1 - Seasons - Autumn Part One

_Unsurprisingly, the next time the black-haired child saw his friend, she mentioned his fight against the CCG investigators and how he protected the ghouls._

" _They're calling you Knives, you know?"_

 _The black-haired boy looked up from his book, a gift from a human friend for a birthday years ago that he spent in the cold park with the half ghoul sitting opposite. She was idlily doodling in her red tattered notebook, a prized object of her that was slowly growing thicker and thicker while her story had gotten longer and she started to edit it. Of course, the black-haired boy wasn't allowed to even have a peak at the written words, as the ghoul stated that it was a surprise for him later on, so that he could read it as a finished product as a proper book instead of a bunched of notes and butchered sentences put together in a flimsy notepad that he had brought her one day._

" _Really?" He asked back, and his friend looked up at his face, her black and red eye pierced into his soul while her other eye, a dull grey but human, was filled with mirth and laughter at the name given to him by the CCG, her face dusted in dirt due to her laying on the park ground as well as a small speckle of what he suspected to be human blood from her latest meal, which painted the corners of her mouth in a bright red, a contrast to her pale, white washed skin from the lack of sunlight._

 _He shouldn't really be that surprised that she knew about the attack, as 20_ _th_ _was very quiet, so an attack was quickly the only thing that anyone could talk about. That, and the fact that she seemed to know everything that was going on in the ghoul, something that she willingly shared with him every time they saw each other._

" _Yep! They've given you a B+ rating, meaning that, not only do they think you're stronger than what you've already shown then, but they're obviously expecting you to fight against them in the future for them to change." There was a bitter tint on the edge of her laughing words, and, despite context of the words, Kaneki couldn't help but to want to laugh along with his friend on the situation they now found themselves in. It was humorously dismal._

" _They've put links to the other kids' files, the ones you decided to save, 'cause they think that you're related to their father or something, as if he was anything important anyway, and they also put the fact that you have yet to use your 'kagune' in the footnotes, stating that you're out to steal quinques instead!" The green-haired ghoul giggled loudly for any passer-by to hear (not that there would be any in this abandoned park), now laying down on the frozen ground, unbothered by the cold that was seeping into her skin through the thin fabrics, notepad long forgotten._

" _Do they really think that I'm a ghoul then?" His book laid forgotten in his lap as he watched the ghoul in front of him, his breath coming out in small, visible puffs._

" _Why, Ken-chan, Doves tend to be very closed minded, they'll think that you can't use your kagune or something, not that you don't have one in the first place!" There seemed to be a smile plastered onto her mouth, and a hungry look in her eyes, one that suggested more than eating, and, for the first since the pair first met, the black-haired child felt a shiver of fear go down his spine and settle in the pits of his stomach._

" _However, by the sounds of it, you'll need more training, because there'll be more doves to fight soon." She started to spin her pen in her hand, and the black-haired child stared at the way that it danced around her fingers, trying to block out the implications of the elder's words and the way that it made him feel out of breath. His stomach was churning with a kind of anxiety that he couldn't place and his head span at the idea of pain, though if it was for himself or for the other person, no, the dove, he'd inevitably hurt was uncertain._

 _The green-haired girl in front of him wrote a little bit more, before going back to spinning her pen and rereading what was on her page, not noticing what her little human was going through emotionally._

 _Surprisingly, that's the last he hears from her for a few weeks._

* * *

The black-haired kid, sat on the swings, idlily swinging on them as he followed the words of his latest book along with a finger while he read, making sure to take careful notice of the specific kanji used for each word and the implications behind it, as there was supposed to be a test on this particular book and what it's hidden meanings were in a couple of days. He had memorised the meanings days ago, not long after they were assigned the task, but he'd rather pretend to be doing something important rather than show that he was just waiting for someone to appear when they were clearly not going to turn up, not when there was barely 2 hours left of sunlight.

Autumn had officially reared its head, and now the leaves had begun to turn orange, making it as if the whole abandoned park has caught fire. The grass, once a dry yellow due to the sun's burning heat was now back to its heathy bright green, however, it was becoming sparse in places as the rain drowned them, leaving small patches of brown, sticky mud that clung onto anything that touched it. The air was often filled with fog during the early hours, and during the other times, held a crisp taste that often nibbled on any visible skin, which, for him, was quite a lot since he had to wear mostly summer clothing, with a little bit as he had grown out of his old winter clothes, and his aunt had yet to see reason to buy him some more, stating that she'll pick him up something 'when she had the money'.

(Of course, she had the money for her son's weekly pocket money and the monthly expensive dinner out with her husband, but those were essentials, not a luxury like new clothes that suited the season as well as fitted him.)

Sighing, he closed his book, looking towards the metal sheets of the battered slide where he first met his friend, he couldn't help but feel a sense of annoyance at her lack of presence, then anger towards his annoyance. Its not like they made a promise to be there every week, and sure, she hadn't been in a while, but she had a life beyond him and the small abandoned park they both met at. He should be grateful that she didn't kill him the first day that they met, or any day past that for that matter, something that she would always remind the black-haired boy, nor during the rigorous training that she put him through, despite not having gone through it since the fight between the doves.

It was strange, thinking of the doves like enemies instead of being on the same side, since he was a human, just like them. But maybe it was stranger thinking of Eto as his friend when she could kill him at any time just to sate her hunger. She may be a half ghoul, something that she had yet to really explain to the black-haired boy and he was, quite frankly, too afraid to ask, but from he had gathered, it was no different from being a full ghoul, except only one of her eyes turned black and red instead of two.

Huffing quietly, he placed the book back in his schoolbag, located next to his swing, and stood up off the swing, stretching his arms after being in the same position for a long amount of time and listening to the way that his bones would crack under the sudden strain he put them under. Looking up at the sky, the black-haired boy estimated that there would only be about ninety minutes before the sun started to set, and by that point, Eto would be a no show anywhere, as he knew for a fact that she enjoyed her hunting.

Picking up his satchel from the dusty floor below, he started to make his way out of the park, only to stop in his tracks when he felt his bag vibrate.

Was that his phone?

So, he spent the next five minutes digging out his phone from his bag, rummaging through the items in it and struggling to get past the layer of rubbish that had accumulated during the past week at school, no thanks to Hide trying to make sure he was well fed during the long school days.

Finally, he managed to find his phone in the mountain. However, he only frowned when he noticed the message.

* * *

 _From: Hide_

 _To: Kaneki_

 _hey, i found a new cafe that i think youll like_

 _its called Anteku_

 _its very bookstorey_

 _wanna go?_

* * *

Sighing, he reread the message from his best friend, only to sigh again as he wondered what he should do.

He did want to go and see his friend, and at least try and make use of the rest of the wasted day, but the slightly older green-haired girl had been adamant about him not going back to Anteku, especially after he sent two young ghouls to the café, meaning that, not only did they know he was human, but they might be able to recognise his face. He normally took the green haired ghoul's advice to heart, accepting everything that she said, no questions asked.

But…

But, Eto wasn't here at the moment to tell him no.

Quickly, he typed a short comformation to Hide, telling him that, yes, he'll meet the blond-haired boy there, and, no, he doesn't need an address for it, he already knows where it is. With that, he leaves the small abadonded park, ignorant to the mismatched eyes staring at every step he made until he was out of her vision.

The café was just as he remembered it, warm, homely and still managed by ghouls.

Of course, the last time he properly visited it was a good couple of years ago in the summer, when his ghoul friend was much more ignorant towards humans and only saw them as a snack to be eaten later (he wasn't too sure of what she thought of them now, but he's pretty sure he doesn't want to know). Now it looked a little more worn, there were a couple more chips in the plates and cups, more wear and tear on the tables and some of the chair looked to be as if they had been replaced, though none of which really surprised Kaneki, as ghouls seemed to be the sort of species that accidentally forgot their incredible strength and accidentally break something because of it. Dispite that, the staff here were still kind and helpful towards what they should be considering as their prey, the food was more than edible, which was more than expected when armed with the knowledge that the person who made it simply couldn't taste it and the coffee was astounding, if the look on Hide's face was anything to go by.

"The coffee here is amazing! Why didn't I find this place sooner?" Hide almost shouted, taking a large sip of his mocha then freaking out when he burned his tongue, his actions making Kaneki giggle into his hands and make him almost forget about Eto's sudden disappearance.

Almost, that was.

"I didn't think that you even liked coffee." Kaneki quietly admitted, taking in a forkful of lemon drizzle, then silently wondering how on earth ghouls were able to make it so good without having the taste buds for it.

"Please, I like my coffee served as my soul is perceived." Hide stated, placing down the cup and stared down at it as if it would help it cool down quicker.

"There's no such thing as sunshine coffee, they'll have to serve you a banana milkshake instead and hope that it looks vaguely similar." Kaneki cheekily replied, smiling when his friend laughed at his remark, his face dusting a light blushing and his honey brown eyes smiling right back at him. Taking the final bite out of his cake, Kaneki placed the fork back down onto the plate for it to rest while Hide took another sip of his mocha, this time not wincing due to the heat of the liquid.

"Y'know, I bet the staff here are hiding a big secret…" Hide said quietly, hand over his mouth so that nobody else could make out what he was muttering to his friend.

"Like what?" Kaneki almost felt his heart stop at the comment his friend just made, and hoped that he didn't notice.

"For example," Hide started, pointing his finger towards a woman behind the counter. "She probably killed her husband, and created a gang of woman who also kill their husbands, and they go around killing other people's husbands and making them join her gang." Kaneki only scoffed at this idea; according to Eto, ghouls don't kill their mate, they do anything to make sure they don't die.

"The one with the white hair that went to the back of the store collects people for a hobby, dead people that is. He tries to make sure they're unique, so that the police do not catch him due to spotting his pattern." There was the biggest grin on his friend's face as he exaggerated the ways that these people had committed crimes, and slowly moved onto to some of the customers, giving them gruesome backstories that were completely ridiculous.

"And those two…" Hide paused, while Kaneki looked towards where he was pointing, only to see the two ghoul kids he had saved that summer. They were engrossed in the paper in front of them, seemingly drawing or learning to write, with a male employee helping out and laughing at whatever they had just said.

"Those two are innocent."

The black-haired child couldn't help but agree with the statement.

* * *

 _A green-haired girl sat on one of the many roofs of 20_ _th_ _ward, staring as two children walked down the dark street, one of them, the blond one, laughing loudly at whatever had been said while the other one, the one that black hair that covered his soft grey eyes, has his nose in his book, a normal sight for those who know him._

 _To any onlooker, it would seem like she was stalking the two, and they would be right. The ghoul had, regretfully, not seen her friend in a couple of months due to a plan that would change the broken world, and all the bad people in it._

 _And, deep down in her heart, she hoped that the blond-haired kid was one of them._

* * *

 **A.N. - So I know that I promised a chapter for new year, but I can be the first to say that the target was way to high for my short arms to reach :/. Hope you like the new chapter, and update will very due to other commitments, please understand that.**


	6. ARC 1 - Seasons - Autumn Part Two

_As the sun begins to set, and the yellow fads to orange and the orange fades to red and the red fades to twilight, you find the children, and you tuck them in._

 _You wonder: 'What do I do next?'_

 _Tell the children the stories._

 _Tell them how they came to be, tell them how they started. Tell them how they grew from a solution to a convenience to an inconvenience to a problem. Tell them how they infect everyday life, spreading like a plague and harming everything it comes into contact with. Tell them about the death and destruction they have caused to millions of families and friends and acquaintances and strangers, all because of their selfish greed to overrun the other. Tell them about the war, the battles, the fighting, the mourning, and the dying._

 _Tell the children the stories, then kiss them goodnight, and leave them to sleep in the nightmare called life, leave them to grow up to the roles that you told them at twilight._

 _You smile, and they smile, and you leave._

 _You've left them wondering, as the sun fully sets into the horizon and the darkness fully settles in and swallows them whole._

 _Did you describe ghouls, or humans?_

 _(You wonder: 'Do I even know?')_

x-x-x

The last autumn leaves began to fall from the very tips of the trees that hid a bright and cold sun, leaving them bare and empty while meandering their way through the air until they land merely meters away from the branches that they fell from, until a wind picks them up and begins t make them travel, blowing them further and further with a black-haired boy to follow them, step by step getting closer and closer to the small abandoned park that he had grown so fond of.

He doesn't know why he keeps going. It's almost been three months since he's seen his friend. Maybe she's forgotten about the poor little human she used to entertain and train with, thinking so lowly of him that even eating him doesn't entertain her in the same way as a stranger on the streets.

It wouldn't be surprising that he's so trivial and insignificant that he wasn't even considered a meal.

After all, he was rather pathetic, wasn't he?

Even if the green haired girl did care for him and did visit him every Saturday as according to their nonverbal pact that they made that spring all those years ago, it was a Wednesday. There was no way in the world that she would turn up here, so far away from her home (or he at least assumed that to be the case) especially since they had not seen each other for so long.

He was only here because he had gotten locked out again.

(The black-haired boy, no, he was a teen now, was forever grateful for his aunt, not matter what she did to him. She took him after his mother died, she fed him and clothed him and kept a roof over his head.)

(His chin felt itchy…)

It's not his fault that he was locked out this time. He was at school longer than he said he would be, Hide wanted to drag him to his afterschool club, and who was he to deny this bond-haire3d wonder? Because of his lateness, his aunt and her family had gone out, to a movie, a meal, he didn't know. Usually, he would be left alone, locked in his room to stop him from 'stealing the food' or some trivial excuse that she liked to pull. It wasn't so bad, he could always sneak out of his open window and meet up with Hide if needed, not that he did it a lot in the first place.

It wasn't like he really left his room and willingly interacted with them anyway.

He lets out all of his troubles through his breath at the sight of the park, still and forever abandoned except for him and his green-haired friend-

Except now it was just him again.

He's alone again.

x-x-x

He flicks over a page, a finger following along the words, frowning as he isn't able to fully focus on anything properly. He could read them just fine, but the whole meaning of the sentence is totally lost on him.

A rustle of leaves from the pile under the bare tree causes him to jump and look up at the cat who just pounced on a mouse, holding their gift proudly before wondering off.

He sighs and goes back to his book, shivering despite the added scarf, added only so it didn't look like he was neglected or homeless, his aunt's words.

x-x-x

He hides away in the crumbling playhouse when the rain comes in days later, the feeble plastic roof able to protect him and his book from the light pitter patter of water and the leave that had been hidden in there made for a comfortable place to sit.

The weather is able to hide his own tears from the break up that the main character went through, even though it was probably better for the pair of them in the long run.

x-x-x

He is almost to the park again, when he walks past a poster with a picture of a kid that he recognised.

He backtracks and tilts his head as he reads the information about the runaway, taking in the full name of the boy that he saved years ago now, frowning over the way that the picture portrayed the dark eyes filled of anger and the frown covering the boy's face in the picture, clearly pouting over something small and ridiculous that would mean nothing in the future. Sighing, he shook his head and ripped the poster down, quickly tearing it in two and placing the remnants in different bins to make sure it couldn't be tracked, by the CCG, who surely already has pictures of him when he was younger when they raided their father's old flat.

How stupid was this girl to leave an obvious paper trail like this for the CCG to follow? That was a stupid way to throw this back in not only his face, but those other ghouls that didn't have to take them in after the CCG came after them.

He spends his day looking over 20th ward taking down posters named 'Missing: Kirishima Ayato' instead of going to the park and reading the same book for the third time in a row.

He doesn't regret it, even if it does mean a sad waitress serving them good coffee and a curious glance from the old manager when he goes back to Anteku later with Hide the next day.

x-x-x

They say that winter's late this year.

There are no more leaves to fall of the trees, and the rain that falls from the heavens isn't frozen like the many years before. There is no bitter wind that nips at the noses of the children and there's desire to make hot chocolatey drinks that warm you up from the inside out.

The black-haired boy doesn't mind the mild temperatures and the lack of an actual winter despite the time of the year, as it meant that he could read at the park until the sun set earlier that normal.

Well, he wasn't as much reading as he was waiting.

Maybe he should stop waiting, as she didn't seem to be coming back.

x-x-x

He doesn't leave the house for the next few days.

The flooding of the front garden stops him at least.

The next week he spends it at Hide's place, because the boy is persistent and who is he to deny such puppy dog eyes.

And the week after it's raining again, meaning that he can't leave the house again.

Maybe it's a sign.

Maybe he should just give up.

x-x-x

He drags his feet through the mud, the leaves haven disintegrated into mush at this point, as he slowly makes his way up to the park, perhaps for the last time.

Or maybe, if she really has given up on him (the knifes weigh heavy in his sleeves, he doesn't leave without them anymore, he's grown attached and anxious), he can show Hide the park, and show him the stars when it gets dark and name the constellations, and point out that cat that visits and let them have a quick peak that the bunnies that have a burrow just under the slide that the black haired kid just _knew_ that his best friend would love.

But, then again…

He didn't really want Hide and Eto meeting.

They would be great friends, sure, but Ken was selfish, and he wanted them both for himself, because he was sure that if they were to meet they would be so good for each other that they would surely leave him behind for the dust, or maybe the green haired girl he was so fond of would pity him enough to eat him finally.

Though, he still wouldn't be surprised to find out that he was far too pathetic to even be considered a meal for a ghoul.

He let himself smile when he came across the small bench that laid to the end of the park, surrounded by overgrown trees and small shrubs that tried to hide the metal structure, his walking speed increasing to sit down on the bench, having missed it after weeks of staying away from the park, but when he got there, he frowned.

Where he usually sat, was a book.

 _Dear Kafka, by Sen Takatsuki._

Curiously, he opened the book up and flicked through it, noting it's brand new state and instantly frowning at the writing at the start of the book, perhaps where an author might sign the book.

Opening the book full to the handwritten page, he sat down on the bench, and began to read.

x-x-x

 _Dear Ken-chan,_

 _It's been a while, huh._

 _I would say sorry for the lack of contact, but I know that you know that I would be lying, so I'm going to skip the human pleasantries that you have been drilling into me for the past few years now. However, I am sorry that I am not here to give this to you and explain all of this to you; I'm sure this will raise so many questions._

 _I'm sure you've seen on the news about the latest large-scale ghoul attack, although, now that I'm thinking deeper about it, you probably had your nose far into a book or talking to that blonde kid. It's doesn't matter, I'll tell you about it when I next see you. It's it the beginning, the first act, the start of something amazing._

 _I'm sure you remember the book that you recommended to me not too long ago, Damian, by Hermann Hasse. I'm sorry that I haven't returned it yet, but there's a quote in chapter five that truly resonates with me. 'The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas.'_

 _We need a new world Ken. We need a world where a friendship like ours is not forbidden or feared, but treasured and considered part of everyday life. We need a world where being a ghoul isn't a one-way road to hell, but just a side note instead._

 _I need your help to do so._

 _You see, I can easily find ghouls to rally with and follow my orders, and I've got someone who believes in the same goal that can help out from a different angle._

 _But he isn't human. You are._

 _You've grown up in this normal world, where my species is feared and are monsters, and yet, you have protected and nurtured them despite that. you can help lead the rest into this new world, help them to fly and break the world they are currently living in._

 _I know it sounds out there, but please, consider it before I tell you more._

 _Just, sleep on it or something._

 _-Eto._

 _P.S. This is the story, or well, stories, that I've been working on for a while, and I did promise that you would get the first one off the printer all that time ago, didn't I?_

x-x-x

Ken looked up at the sky, eyes widening as a snowflake came into his view, and was quickly followed by a small flurry of little flecks of frozen water.

Winter was finally here.


	7. ARC 1 - Seasons - Winter Part One

' _The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That god's name is Abraxas.'_

 _The black-haired boy never really put much thought into this quote, it's something that he's read a thousand times now, yes, but he's never really thought of it this out of context of the story before; he hadn't needed to think about it out of context before, not until now of course._

 _But, now he reads it, and rereads it again, but this time in the green haired girl's rather scruffy handwriting rather than the printed text, and he's not surprised that it has caught her eye at all, no, not when it suggests rebelling the system and making one of your own, the idea that the current system must be broken before another could be placed, that is exactly the metaphor represents her and her morals and her goals._

 _Such a good quote, there are so many levels to it. You can only be born once you have broken the egg. To break the egg, you must break the world. To be born, no, to be known, you must first break the world. Ha. Typical of the green haired girl, fits right in with everything that she stands for, not just the chaos that will come with the braking, but much rather the order that will follow it, not that he could see her following that new order of course._

 _Maybe that's why she adds the bit about God. God's word is law, and order comes from that, but the black-haired boy cannot see her in that position either. No, his green haired friend would never be a God, she doesn't have it in her to be so uninvolved as a god needed to be. No, she is much of the bird in the quote, she is much of the fighting type, the rebellious type._

' _The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas.'_

 _Strange to add this quote. It's an add on, her metaphor doesn't need it. Except, when he rereads the fact that she's met someone, and he couldn't help but raise his eyes at that line, it causes him to think._

' _The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas.'_

 _Abraxas is the name of the god of the demons. Their world was just filled to the brim with them._

 _He can't wait to meet him._

* * *

His first instinct is to, of course, ask Hide about it.

(His second instant is to, of course, ask Hide about it. His first to agree immediately to her wishes and demands, but, the last time he followed his first instinct about something was when he saved those ghoul children and that resulted with him having a profile with the CCG with a rating and everything, and that really, really was not a good thing, unless you're the green-haired half-ghoul of course, where the world is a joke and life is a game and the world really was an egg ready to be hatched, the rules merely egg shells waiting to be broken.)

He isn't stupid, he knows he can't tell his blond-haired ball of sunshine about everything, about what the offer is exactly or who his green-haired friend is, but he knows that he needs the second opinion, he needs the outsider's voice to tell him how stupid this all was before he jumped in feet first without even seeing what was at the bottom of the whole.

He does so over text, and he tries to bring it up as casually as he can, trying to lead the conversation to the subject, but he's transparent to Hide, his friend can see right through him to his mangled and stolen heart, as he already knows that there is a problem and he instantly want to help.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

(He's not sure who's stupid, or, in this case, who is the most stupid in this case. Eto for asking for this sort of help, Ken for looking for validation, or Hide for being so overly ignorant and yet insightful for everything that is going on.)

(Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.)

Ken tries to deflect it, explaining to his human friend that there wasn't a problem, no dilemma for the blond-haired person to sort out, and he must have done something right, because the texts his friend sends are now slightly colder (he ignores the hurt that he had sent to his best human friend and to himself through his secrets), but just as informative. He says to list the pros and cons, to find out what he wants and what his friend, the friend that the black-haired boy only just admitted to having, wants and to see if there was a way that Ken could help her without going against what he wants.

Ken doesn't know what he wants (he wants to be happy); he doesn't know why he should be hesitating, but he still does (fighting doesn't sound like it will make him happy).

(But it would make her happy and that is really what he wants, right?)

His blond-haired friend also said that he should talk to his other friend, but when he goes to the park the next day, book in hand and worry etched into his face as snow continues to fall but not lay, he's greeted by emptiness.

He shouldn't feel surprise, but he does.

* * *

Even a month later, he hasn't spoken to her.

Even a month later, he's still conflicted.

He has rights to be, or, at least he thinks that he has rights to be conflicted over what options he had. Because, he loves the green-haired girl that he had known almost his whole life, he loves her and wants to help her in any way possible, but now she was asking for it, requesting something that he was always sure that he was able to give with no hesitation, he finds himself doing the same thing that he thought he wouldn't be.

He doesn't understand it much, why he was so hesitant.

Maybe if he was older, he'd know why he was so cautious. Maybe if he was wiser, he'd consider his options, all the ones available and not just the ones he could see.

But, no. He was young. He was inexperienced. He was foolish.

Maybe later in life, when he lost one of those qualities, when he grew older, experienced, wiser, he'd know what his mistake was, he'd know what when wrong and when. But, as he looked down at the message that she had left him a month ago when the snow started to fall, and winter truly started, he can only run his fingers over the words and smile.

(The fool was the first card of the deck, but it was also the last. Everything starts with the fool, but it also ends with the fool.)

She's asking for his help. Why would he not give something as simple as that to her?

(This is the start, and he is the fool.)

When he goes to the park again, book in hand, scarf around neck and a smile on his face while his feet made crunches in the snow that had started to lay but not enough for it to really be anything of importance, he's greeted by emptiness.

Emptiness and a note, with a date, a time, and a meeting point.

He goes home, and he find out that Sen Takatsuki is holding her first book signing event, in celebration of her first book becoming a bestseller and, unsurprisingly, it matches up perfectly with the date, time and the meeting point that was written on the note in his hand.

Interesting.

* * *

It doesn't surprise him to find that the normally quiet bookstore, the one furthest from Anteiku, was packed.

Well, packed is relative isn't it? As there aren't actually many people there, about twenty people, a mix from the ages of about fourteen to thirty-five, all with their books in their hands and questions in their minds. It doesn't matter though, everyone is happy and warm and very, very excited.

He stands at the back, and reads the book that was given to him in the park as everyone else sits and watches with smiles on their faces, hands in the air and questions on their tongue. He doesn't blame them, for as short as the stories are, they raise lots of questions and there are so many open endings for them that having some writer's insight is wanted, to know what she thought of the endings, so the reader has something to compare to. The black-haired teen doesn't go to stand as everyone else does, as they go and line up in front of the table, waiting for their books to be signed by a writer that they now admire, and before long, the crowd of goes down to a crowd of four, himself, the green haired girl, her editor, and the bookstore owner.

It's at this point that he approaches her, silently and nervously, he hasn't seen her in a while, but he knows that she's looking well. Her hair, while still messy, is at least not bloodstained and pulled back from her face for once, and the glasses that cover her eyes are distracting, pulling the attention away from how one eye looks slightly different from the other, not that people who didn't know would notice either way. Gone was her red dress (though he doubted that she had gotten rid of it, she was very sentimental when she wanted to be) and instead in the cleanest outfit that he had ever seen her in, an oversized yellow jumper and a pair of green dungarees, the front pocket littered with pens and badges. He doesn't get too close to her before the editor approaches him, with a frown on his face.

"I'm sorry, but the signing is over now. I'm afraid that you'll have to wait until-" he starts, but is interrupted by the green haired teen.

"Don't worry, this is Ken, a friend of mine that I was talking about," she says, ignoring the look of fear that grows on his face and the sudden silence that he falls into, "I will be going now, thanks for organising this event, see you soon!" she grabs his wrist and quickly drags him out of the small bookshop, and he follows without argument. While he has not seen her in a while, almost too long, he could say that he never missed this side of her, the rude, forceful side that had no patience for human etiquettes.

"We have much to talk about Ken, so many plans to make, but lucky for us, we have all the time in the world now," and then she looks back at him, still going forward towards her destination and she smiles slightly, and he can feel the blood rush to his cheeks, but he puts the full blame of that on the snow that land on his face instead, but it doesn't stop him from looking away form her, staring down at the ground and watch the footsteps that he creates in the thin layer of snow. He hears her giggle, but they've stopped walking now, so he doesn't have the time to ponder at the strange exchange.

(He'll ponder about it, have it flip over in his head a thousand times, when he gets home with the new information in his head and a quick thought of 'what if?'.)

He looks up from the ground to look at the small café, before he is again dragged by the wrist, and he couldn't help but sigh as he walks into the wall of welcoming heat. He follows his friend to a small table, and he orders a simple hot chocolate while the green haired teen orders her black coffee as well as an apple, which she plays with while they wait for their drinks to cool slight.

"So," she starts, looking up from the apple which she continues to roll around the table, making sure that it never falls off, "Everything starts with an organisation called V…"

* * *

 **A.N. So here's an update, and I managed to find my original notes for this story, and then I realised that I haven't really followed any of them, so somethings have to be rearranged. Yikes.**

 **Never the less, I like this chapter, I think. The next chapter will be the last one for this arc, and then we'll start with canon events, or a least start the canon timeline, or a bit before then. Who knows? Not me, mainly because I have no idea where this fic is going o_0.**

 **Please leave a review!**


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